Heading into Saturday’s Ancient Eight opener at Jadwin Gym, Princeton and its longtime rival Penn find each other trending in opposite directions.

After a disappointing 3-6 start in which the Tigers struggled holding on to early leads, coach Mitch Henderson appears to have found an effective remedy for his team’s slow start in the form of freshman forward Hans Brase. Since Brase was inserted into the starting lineup after a tough loss to Fordham at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center, Princeton has gone 3-1 with wins over mid-major power Bucknell and Mercer County rival Rider.

“The difference is just handling pressure,” Henderson said Wednesday during the Ivy League coaches’ conference call. “I think we’re smarter with the ball. I don’t think there was ever an issue with us playing hard, but I think we’re playing a little bit smarter, and there is an obvious lineup change. Hans has just brought us a different dynamic.”

Couple Brase with the continued excellence of senior Ian Hummer and some strong recent performances from the likes of Will Barrett, Denton Koon and T.J. Bray, and this Tigers group is beginning to resemble the team that many media-types imagined when they we’re picked No. 1 in the league’s preseason media poll.

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“I just feel that we found a way to play a little bit,” Henderson said. “I’m not sure if we’re all the way there, but I think that we have the potential to have a solid group going into league play.”

On the other side of that Ivy equation are the senior-less Quakers, whose only two wins this season have come against America East cupcakes UMBC and Binghamton (schools with a combined record of 4-26). Penn has also had its share of issues off the court, as five players—Henry Brooks, Tony Hick, Darien Nelson-Henry, Steve Rennard and second-leading scorer Miles Cartwright—were suspended from the team’s 83-60 loss to Delaware on Dec. 21 for, according to a report from the Daily Pennsylvanian, failing a random drug test.

“Even though we don’t have a senior, we try not to use our youth as a crutch not to live by a certain standard,” said coach Jerome Allen. “With that being said, youth is inconsistent. Some days they look pretty good, and some days they make me want to pull out the hair that I wish I had.”

Though Penn does have talent—in addition to Cartwright, the freshman duo of Hicks and the 6-foot-10 Nelson-Henry appears especially promising—the Quakers will be further hampered Saturday by the absence of forward Fran Dougherty. The team’s leading scorer (15.7) and rebounder (8.8) per game, the junior has missed the last four games battling mononucleosis.

“(Dougherty’s) still battling back from his illness,” Allen said. “Hopefully we’ll have him back in the next couple of weeks.”

In Ivy League play, of course, all the records get thrown out the window. Last season, Penn got a huge 82-60 victory over Princeton at the Palestra in the Tigers’ first game back from their exam period. For Princeton, that loss was part of a five-game road trip to start conference play on which it went just 2-3, digging itself a hole it was ultimately never able to dig out of.

Though the Tigers havetheir schedule flipped with five home games to start league play, they knows how slim the margin of error can be between an NCAA bid and a trip to the CBI.

“Its front-loaded this year, and last year it was back-loaded,” Henderson said. “I think the most important thing is are we playing good competitive basketball right now? We are not good enough to not be playing our very best, and we’ve proven that in the non-conference.”

Both coaches noted that, perhaps even more that in recent seasons, there is no heavy favorite for the Ivy crown.

“I like the way we’re playing now and its nice to be at home, but the league is very challenging and I think it’s anybody’s race,” Henderson said. “It looks to me like everybody’s got some nice wins and its going to be a challenge whether we are at home or on the road.”

Allen agreed.

“I think its more open this year,” he said. “I don’t expect any team to be senior dominated and just run away with it.”

Saturday’s opener will be part of a men/women double-header, with the women starting at 3 p.m. and the men tipping off at 6 p.m.